U.S. House Committee Passes Bill Extending Copyright Protection
Washington, April 1 (Bloomberg) - The U.S. House Judiciary
Committee approved a bill extending copyright protection to
material posted on the Internet and on private networks.
The bill also limits the liability of online service
providers for copyright infringement.
The legislation, approved unanimously, will move next to the
House floor. It implements the 1996 World Intellectual Property
Organization treaty to protect copyrighted materials online. The
bill also seeks to allow online service providers and their Web
sites to flourish without the fear of copyright lawsuits.
''Some of the most valuable, most creative copyrighted works
have not been put on the Internet because of the problem of
regulating it,'' said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican
who has been one of the key voices in favor of the bill.
The measure also includes restrictions on creating products
that remove technological protections on copyrighted work. Such
devices could decipher an encrypted work on the Internet or
unscramble a broadcast signal.
Under the legislation, online service providers such as
America Online Inc. and CompuServe Corp. wouldn't be liable if
they unknowingly store and transmit copyright infringements.
The addition of liability limitations to the bill comes a
day after representatives of online service providers, libraries,
universities, telephone companies, and the recording and software
industries reached a compromise on the issue. They have been
debating it for more than three years, said Mitch Glazier, the
majority chief counsel of the House Judiciary Committee's courts
and intellectual property subcommittee.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a
Republican from Utah, who played a key role in the negotiations,
will probably include similar liability limitations in the
identical treaty bill that has been introduced in the Senate
Judiciary Committee, Glazier said.
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